Belmont Report Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. A high-burden study recruits only residents of a disadvantaged neighborhood for convenience, while any resulting intervention is expected to be available mainly to wealthier patients. What is the clearest Belmont concern?
The burdens and likely benefits are distributed unfairly, raising a justice concern
The study violates beneficence solely because research cannot involve burdens
The study lacks informed consent because disadvantaged adults cannot consent
The study is ethical as long as recruitment is inexpensive and efficient
2. A research team proposes enrolling institutionalized people mainly because they are readily available and unlikely to refuse. Which response best follows the Belmont Report?
Approve the plan if enrollment can be completed more quickly
Reconsider whether the group is being selected for reasons unfairly tied to convenience or vulnerability
Approve the plan if every person receives the same payment
Exclude institutionalized people from all research without considering its purpose
3. A low-risk study offers a payment so unusually large that prospective participants may discount concerns they would otherwise consider important. What ethical issue does this most directly raise?
A failure of justice because all research payments must be identical
Possible undue influence that could compromise the voluntariness of consent
Coercion because any financial offer is an overt threat of harm
A failure of comprehension because payment prevents people from reading
4. A consent form accurately lists the study’s procedures, but it is written in technical language that the intended participants are unlikely to understand. What should researchers do?
Present the information in an understandable way and check that participants can comprehend it
Keep the form unchanged because accurate disclosure alone completes consent
Replace individual consent with approval from the research team
Remove information about risks so the form becomes shorter
5. Which body authored the Belmont Report?
The National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration
The Office for Human Research Protections
The World Medical Association
6. Investigators want to recruit incarcerated people for a study unrelated to incarceration because the population is easy to monitor. What is the most relevant Belmont-based question?
Will monitoring make the study less expensive than community recruitment?
Is selecting this population fair, or does convenience expose a constrained group to burdens others could bear?
Can incarceration be treated as automatic proof that consent is impossible?
Will using one location make the sample statistically representative?
7. What three broad elements of informed consent does the Belmont Report discuss?
Disclosure, compensation, and debriefing
Recruitment, randomization, and publication
Information, comprehension, and voluntariness
Capacity, confidentiality, and scientific validity
8. A study seeks consent from adults whose medical condition may substantially impair decision-making. Which response best reflects respect for persons?
Use the standard consent form because equal treatment requires an identical process
Exclude every person with any possible impairment, regardless of the study or individual
Assess decision-making capacity and add appropriate protections or authorized permission while involving participants as much as possible
Let the research team decide privately whether participation is beneficial enough
9. In the Belmont Report, the principle of justice is primarily concerned with:
Ensuring that all research produces statistically significant findings
Protecting investigators from conflicts with their institutions
Distributing the burdens and benefits of research fairly
Giving every participant the same intervention regardless of study design
10. A department chair tells employees that joining her study is optional but adds that participation will show who is committed to the department. Which element of informed consent is most threatened?
Voluntariness, because authority and implied consequences may improperly influence the choice
Comprehension, because employees may not understand research methods
Selection, because employees may never participate in workplace research
Information, because employees were not told the study’s hypothesis
11. Researchers revise a protocol to reduce unnecessary blood draws while preserving the study’s scientific value. Which Belmont principle is most directly applied?
Justice, because all participants must undergo identical procedures
Justice, because reducing procedures guarantees equal research benefits
Respect for persons, because any procedure chosen by researchers is autonomous
Beneficence, because avoidable harm is being reduced while potential value is preserved
12. An ethics committee is assessing a study that involves discomfort but may produce valuable knowledge. Which approach best reflects the Belmont Report’s treatment of risks and benefits?
Count the number of possible benefits and approve if it exceeds the number of risks
Accept the study whenever participants sign a detailed consent form
Require a guaranteed direct benefit for every participant
Systematically examine the nature and likelihood of harms and benefits, minimize risks, and judge whether remaining risks are justified
13. Which distinction between practice and research is most consistent with the Belmont Report?
Practice occurs only in hospitals, while research occurs only at universities
Practice is designed to enhance an individual’s well-being, while research is designed to test a hypothesis and develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge
Practice never uses experimental methods, while research always uses placebos
Practice requires professional judgment, while research does not
14. Which statement best expresses beneficence in the Belmont Report?
Give every eligible person an identical chance of joining every study
Allow any risk when a participant voluntarily accepts it
Provide participants with complete authority over the study design
Do not harm, and maximize possible benefits while minimizing possible harms
15. According to the Belmont Report, respect for persons incorporates which two ethical convictions?
Researchers are independent experts, and participants should defer to their judgment
All participants should receive equal compensation, and every study should offer direct benefit
Individuals should be treated as autonomous agents, and people with diminished autonomy are entitled to protection
Research should avoid uncertainty, and investigators should guarantee favorable outcomes
16. Which set names the three basic ethical principles identified in the Belmont Report?
Consent, confidentiality, and peer review
Privacy, scientific validity, and transparency
Autonomy, nonmaleficence, and fidelity
Respect for persons, beneficence, and justice